Elyssa
by Answer
Summary: The ocean spoke to Elyssa. Just once. But it told her all she needed to know. Little Mermaid, ONESHOT. For Kenzie.


Elyssa Matthews could talk to the ocean.

This was much more useful than one would imagine. You see, the important thing was not that she could talk to the ocean, but that it talked back.

How does an ocean talk?

The mind is a strange place. I say place because it is possible to go there. Close your eyes. Stop listening. Where are you?

People are forever holding conversations in their heads. A series of impulses that only become thoughts when we choose to put them into words. If they're important enough, they'll bypass words altogether. If you take hold of the wrong end of some curling tongs, you do not stand there holding them while your mind mutters to itself. "Oops-grabbed-wrong-end-better-let-go-or-I'll-have-no-skin-on-my-fingers." You drop them.

But small things, even if in the long run they matter more than burning your fingers – small things you talk about. A series of brief impulses can become "_Mm, that guy's cute – oh, but he's with that girl. Crap. Well, maybe if I... no, no, I won't do that. Although he does have nice hair..._"

You converse with yourself about everything. You even practice talking to other people in your head. The moment before you say anything, your brain is checking the words over. Then, "_Say it, say it!_" or, in potentially disastrous cases "_For the love of everything you hold sacred, keep your mouth shut!_"

Some brains are better at this than others.

When Elyssa talked to the ocean, she was talking in her head. It was a private conversation between her selves, but suddenly she had company in her own mind. A soft, soothing presence with only the slightest hint of danger beneath the gentle sound of the waves. She was standing alone with the water pooling around her ankles and she was thinking about home. It had taken her twenty minutes to reach the beach by bus, yet home seemed further than she had ever been. Elyssa had run away.

Most young women think about running away. Most of these change their minds. Elyssa hadn't. Deep down, she knew she wouldn't get far. She had barely enough money for a can of Coke and a sandwich at a local supermarket and nowhere to go. She'd probably be home tonight, eating dinner with her family. Probably no one would even know about this. She'd only have been gone a few hours, she could pretend to have been shopping with friends. But for now, for this moment, she was free.

She was thinking about Daniel. Daniel, the most popular boy in school. Daniel with brown hair just a little longer than usual, with deep blue eyes and a smile that would melt every girl he met. Daniel, who she'd saved from detention by helping him revise for a Biology test. In his house. In his _room_. Daniel who'd promised he'd take her to the end of year prom.

Daniel who'd taken beautiful, flawless, popular Lydia instead.

It was as though they were from two different worlds. Daniel and Lydia were prince and princess of a shining kingdom on a hill. Elyssa was one of the peasants in the valley.

It was because of her parents that she couldn't join that other world, Elyssa was sure of that. It wasn't that they couldn't afford to buy her new clothes. They just didn't want to. Elyssa had five older sisters, two of whom were married. One had a daughter of her own. But Elyssa was still wearing their old clothes. "Waste not, want not", her mum would say.

She'd saved some money up a couple of times, gone into town with friends and come back with bulging carrier bags. But then she'd be stopped before she reached the door.

"You are _not_," Dad would shout, scowling over his cornflakes. "Going to school like that."

No short skirts, no low necklines, no make-up. She had no chance against Lydia.

She needed this time away, to pretend that she was free. She needed to stand here in the sea. She needed to talk with her mind.

She hadn't expected to be interrupted.

_Forget him._

Elyssa hesitated. The thought surprised her. Forget Daniel? _Forget Daniel?_ Impossible. No one ever forgot Daniel.

_Be different. Try._

Elyssa looked at the water swirling around her feet. Being different. Yeah. That was working out well, wasn't it?

_Come on. You know, really. You know this isn't you._

She shivered, beginning to wish she'd planned this a little better. The sun was starting to sink and she hadn't brought a coat. Were these thoughts hers? The waves rose and fell, chilling her calves now. The cold bit into her flesh and she felt as though she had just woken up.

_Elyssa..._

She was talking to the sea – the sea was talking to her. It was a thought, just an impulse in her head, but it was so indisputably... _right_.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time. Ten to five. She could catch the five o'clock bus home.

She took a few steps backwards, enough to get her feet out of the water. She pulled on her shoes – they were ten-year-old trainers that had seen worse than a bit of seawater - and set off up the beach.

In another time, a little mermaid in love with a prince stepped into the water, her head filled with thoughts much the same as Elyssa's.

Across the world, waves lapped on distant shores, a dusting of frothy foam upon them. Elyssa caught the bus.


End file.
